Sausage, bacon and eggs with a side of cancer please; what to make of the WHO's recommendations on processed meats.

Sausage, bacon and eggs with a side of cancer please; what to make of the WHO’s recommendations on processed meats.

A week ago, the World Health Organization dealt a final blow to pork roll lovers everywhere. They said that stuff if gonna kill you. While it is true that everything goes better with bacon, or salami, or a hot dog, are all processed foods the reason Sloan Kettering is in business?

While there is truth in the statement “you are what you eat”, there are many of us who have eaten these foods all of our lives and overall, life expectancy has increased markedly over the past 50 years, with better sanitation and better health awareness. What you eat can also help reduce risk, with the right greens, minerals and other foods in your diet, yet some folks who eat and do everything right still get cancer so why is that?

Should you eat things in moderation, have salads and avoid certain foods? Of course, however, no one can predict who will become ill from cancer of any type, with Colon cancer being the big concern here.

Check out the USA Today article on this here. While I am not sure what you will do, I will be eating my pork roll, with my healthy salad, my freshly cooked veggies and my healthy grilled meats.

Hot dogs, bacon, processed meats linked to cancer

Eating hot dogs, ham and other processed meat can cause colorectal cancer, and eating red meat “probably” can cause cancer, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency reported Monday.

Kurt Straif of the International Agency for Cancer Research said the risk of developing colorectal cancer from eating processed meat remains small but rises with the amount consumed. Consuming red meat was linked to colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancer, but the link was not as strong, the IARC report said.

“In view of the large number of people who consume processed meat, the global impact on cancer incidence is of public health importance,” Straif said.

The IARC report labeled processed meat a carcinogen — cigarettes are similarly labeled — and said red meat is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

The North American Meat Institute scoffed at the report, saying it ignored “numerous” studies showing no link between meat and cancer.

“Red and processed meat are among 940 agents reviewed by IARC and found to pose some level of theoretical ‘hazard,” institute spokeswoman Betsy Booren said. “Only one substance, a chemical in yoga pants, has been declared by IARC not to cause cancer.”